


Going On Record Doing Only Nothing

by FiliaNoctisPulchris



Category: Persona 4
Genre: F/M, Hanging Out, I Will Go Down With This Ship, Kanji is upset, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-17
Updated: 2017-08-17
Packaged: 2018-12-16 08:48:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11825229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FiliaNoctisPulchris/pseuds/FiliaNoctisPulchris
Summary: Kanji has calmed down a lot, but sometimes he still needs to punch stuff. Naoto helps.





	Going On Record Doing Only Nothing

Kanji is honestly proud of how much he’s cleaned up just about everything in his life this past year. He’s not fighting, he doesn’t yell nearly as often, and while his name might still circulate as a cautionary tale against making noise in the Shopping District at night, he’s almost a mild-mannered citizen these days.

Unless Dojima-san is sarcastic now. Hmm…

Anyway, Kanji is a lot better now. He’s happier. He spends more time knitting and less time worrying about what people think of him spending time knitting. It’s done wonders for his temper. He hangs out with Naoki-kun, who is a quiet and relaxing presence. He’s started working at the day-care sometimes, and while the kids think he’s 150 years old, they look at him like he hung the stars, so that’s pretty OK.

He’s still himself, though. Sometimes people say things, and they get stuck in his mind. And while Kanji doesn’t kick up nearly as much of a fuss as he would have last year, his blood still boils and he still wants to punch things.

That’s where he’s at right now, and it’s made only worse by the fact that Naoto gets back from her most recent case today, and Rise is in town visiting for a week. He’d promised himself he wouldn’t do this. He was going to just have a good time with his friends. None of this hands shaking, itching to kick things over, stupid, stupid Kanji. No one likes him like this.

And as his luck would have it, Naoto is waiting at the school gates, a small little smile on her face, and God, he doesn’t want to pass his foul mood on to her.He greets her stiffly, and barely slows down. She falls into step anyway.

He’s in trouble, though, because the first words out of her mouth, after “Hello, Tatsumi-kun,” are, “What’s wrong?”

“‘m fine,” Kanji tells her.

Naoto scoffs next to him, and gently reminds him that, “You know you can’t lie to me. I’m a detective.”

“So?”

“I’m also familiar with your moods and your mannerisms.” When he looks to his left, she’s keeping pace, one eyebrow lifted in her usual curious and skeptical expression. “I know how you act when you’re upset about something.”

“Yeah? Good for you.” Kanji starts walking just a little bit faster, hoping she might catch a hint and wait for their senpai instead. She doesn’t.

“What’s wrong, Kanji-kun?”

“Nothing.” Every millimeter of her face says she doesn’t believe him, so, like an idiot, he tries it again. “No, really.  S’nothin’.”

“You are making this much more difficult than it needs to be.”

“I know.” He glances to his left again, where she’s all but running to keep up, and makes himself take a deep breath and slow down. Just like she taught him. They walk through the Shopping District, right past the textile shop and just on, in one direction until he finds an empty store-front off the main strip. It’s as good a place as any to stop and have a good sulk while she tries to interrogate him.

“That’s the problem. There’s not even really a problem. I’m over it. People are dumb, sometimes. I know that. I just… ugh.”

“Ah. I see.” Well, of course Naoto can figure it out. “Correct me if I’m wrong. You were upset by something that you have since realized is trivial, but though you have decided you need not be angry over that incident, you are still emotional. Because your mind tells you the problem is resolved, your continuing emotional state is causing you yet more frustration. You have merely shifted from anger over a situation to anger at your own anger. Do you follow?”

Kanji shrugs, and Naoto smiles a little.

“You merely require an outlet for your frustrations.” Whatever that means.

“You wanna try that again?” Kanji asks.

Naoto pulls her lip between her teeth, which is frankly adorable, and after a moment of thought, says, “You need to, what is it, blow off steam?”

“If you mean I need to hit something, then yes. Been wantin' to since lunch, really,” Kanji admits as he shoves his hands in his pockets. He keeps an eye on Naoto’s thinking face out of the corner of his eye, and grinds his teeth a little as his classmates' words replay in his mind.

“That can be arranged, I think,” Naoto tells him, and for a second he thinks she’s actually going to haul him off by his ear, but the extended hand merely grabs his elbow to help pull him to his feet.  “Come with me.”

She leads him off and out of town, to the top of the hill where everyone seems to go for space to think. There’s no one there, but with the clouds gathering and rain in the forecast, Kanji isn’t really surprised. Naoto leads over to a flat area in the grass, with the picnic shelter between them and the hill, and turns to face him.

“Alright,” she starts, clearly back to all business. “Have you done any sparring in the past?”

For a moment, Kanji just stares blankly at her, before stuttering out, “W-What?”

“You are clearly agitated, and I find it unlikely that you will talk through the problem with me, so all I can do is help you to vent your irritation.” She says this like it’s obvious. Like it’s logical. Which, okay, it is, but still. “You mentioned needing to punch something, so I am providing an opportunity to do so with few potential consequences, and in a way that serves my needs as well as yours.”

“You’re serious. Naoto—”

“Do you have a better idea?” Stormy blue eyes flash as she dares him to suggest anything that makes more sense, which he can’t do.

“You don’t actually think that hitting you is going to make me feel better, do you?” She blinks at him, obviously unimpressed, as he casts about for words that make sense. “You must be the dumbest genius I’ve ever met.”

“If you keep punching hard objects, you are going to hurt yourself. With your strength, potentially permanently,” Naoto says, her expression vaguely exasperated, as per usual. “What would you do if you couldn’t hold your hook or needles?”

He hadn’t thought about that.

“Besides,” she continues, a smile pulling at the left side of her mouth, “You won’t actually hit me. Grampa insisted, so I have spent years training in—”

“Right, the martial arts stuff.” Kanji blows out a long breath, and rolls his shoulders. “Alright, fine. But only because you won’t let it go until we try.”

Kanji now fully expects her to flip him onto his back in about ten seconds, like they do in those movies Chie always wants him to watch. He wouldn’t put it past her, even if he is twice her size, and the smirk on her face is almost playful now, which can’t bode well for him.

“So, how do we do this?”

This, somehow, is what catches her off guard, and she has to stop and think for a second. “Just between us?” She mutters, then a moment later, shakes her head. “I trust you to fight fair. This need not be a formal sparring match.”

Well, that’s good enough for Kanji. As he cracks his neck, he watches as Naoto slides into a clearly comfortable and well-practiced stance.

For a few long moments, they both stand completely still, just watching one another, before Naoto asks, “What are you waiting for? Come at me.”

She waves for him to come closer, and Kanji takes a few steps before throwing a carefully controlled weak punch at her. He’s so focused on how much force he can put behind it that he’s caught off guard when Naoto deflects the swing.

“Come on, Kanji-kun. You can do better than that.”

Naoto moves like water around him, and it’s honestly amazing. He’ll reach for her, or swing in her direction, and suddenly she isn't there, or she’s redirected all his momentum and is shoving him away.  He stops holding back so much, and starts relaxing into his punches at the empty air. It occurs to him, some time later, that he’s actually enjoying this, and that his tension is gone in the wake of the odd sort of dance they’re doing.

Why does she always have to be right?

She knows it, too. As Kanji turns to take another swing, he locks eyes with Naoto, and sees the smug look in her eyes. He has the distinct sense that she’s toying with him. She knows she’s won, and that he’ll never actually land a blow, but her eyes keep taunting him to try.

They exchange no words, but he keeps hearing, “Come at me,” in his head, teasing him, daring him, and damn if he’ll turn down a challenge from Naoto Shirogane.

He can’t quite ever catch her, though. They continue until even Naoto is gasping for ragged breaths, and Kanji is covered in a sheen of cooling sweat. His thoughts turn to the bath at home, and the new doll he was going to try tonight. It is then, in the first moment that he’s truly distracted, that Naoto closes with him for a second, and tosses him over her hip somehow.

Kanji lands hard on the grass, and on impact all the air is pushed out of him. Before he’s had the time to process what happened, there’s a knee pressing into his breastbone, and there is Naoto, pinning him to the ground.

“Okay…” he manages, after a second. “You win.”

As he wheezes, she points a finger gun in his face.

“Is that…that supposed to be…threatening?” Kanji huffs.

There is a second of complete silence, before she starts laughing. Naoto’s laugh is bright and clear, and Kanji has missed it. “No,” she concedes, eventually. “I’m glad your mood has improved.”

Kanji lets his head fall back against the grass, and the impact is just the sort of jarring that he needs to keep himself focused on speaking like a regular person instead on an idiot. His mind is already wandering back to Ways-Naoto-Is-Amazing territory, and while that’s a fine place to be, beyond are a few danger zones. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re infuriating?”

“Only when I’m having good days,” she replies. “I find people quickly tire of me when I’m always right.”

“Yeah. ‘Cause it’s annoying as hell.” He looks back up at her, and tries valiantly to ignore what his brain tells him about this angle. “You gonna get off me?”

Naoto’s eyes go wide, and she scrambles to her feet in an instant. After brushing herself off, she extends a hand to Kanji, and he takes it even though he doesn’t need the assist. It’s familiar, from all the times in the TV, down to him being winded and confused.

“Are you alright?” she asks. “I didn’t—”

“Nah, I’m fine.” He rolls his shoulders again, and shrugs before looking down at her still flushed face.  “You’re…you’re really good at that.”

She won’t look at him, and he can only make out, “Years of training will pay off, I suppose,” because she’s too damn articulate to mumble properly.

“Right…” he says, distracted by the way she’s acting. It’s all wrong, and he can’t figure out why one of the most forthright people he knows is staring at her shoes.

“I am a bit out of practice, though,” she says, and her voice has slid just a bit higher in pitch, too. “Would you be willing to try this again, sometime?”

“Uh, sure, I guess.”

“Thank you.” She looks down at her watch, and jumps a little before telling him, “Sorry, I’ve got to go.”

She basically runs away after that, and Kanji is forced to conclude that he somehow royally screwed up. Again.

**Author's Note:**

> Goodness Gracious I love these two. They're just so...I dunno. I have so many dumb little moments of them in my brain, so if anyone is interested, I may turn this in to a series of just slice of life KanNao nonsense.


End file.
